Alternative therapies made a difference to Sarah Jane’s Journey

Sarah Jane always held an interest in alternative therapies. Whilst it didn’t avoid her facing fertility problems, she believes it did make a difference to her treatment journey. Sarah Jane explains:

“Owen and I had always wanted children and so after we married, we stopped taking contraceptives, and being healthy didn’t anticipate any problems. We love to travel, and so for our honeymoon we took an eight-month trip across the US, New Zealand, India and South East Asia. During that time we didn’t conceive, but we put this down to being away from home. After we returned home and my best friend announced she was pregnant, with still no sign for us, we decided it was time to see our GP.

The facility is state of the art and the nurses and consultants are very supportive and developed a treatment plan that would best work for us.

“After a number of tests, our GP referred me to a gynaecologist, who discovered that one of my fallopian tubes was blocked. Although it wasn’t clear what had caused this, I was reassured that it was still possible for me to conceive. I still had one good fallopian tube and I was given chlomifene to help with the regular release of eggs.

“You can control most things in life, yet my fertility was something I couldn’t. I felt helpless. So to do something, I attended reflexology. I was interested in alternative therapies and had already studied massage. It was very relaxing and Katy, my reflexologist, also gave me good advice. She observed that I led an adrenaline-filled life. Hot Yoga, boot-camp, a job in recruitment. Reflexology was a good counter-balance to this.

“One year after taking chlomifene and six months into reflexology, we conceived naturally. We were ecstatic, at last our plans for a baby were starting. But then, a day before my 32nd birthday I became very ill, I was experiencing an ectopic pregnancy. Due to the damage it caused, doctors had to remove my good fallopian tube and so now we would need to undergo IVF to conceive.

“We were referred to Oxford Fertility. We were delighted. The facility is state of the art and the nurses and consultants are very supportive and developed a treatment plan that would best work for us.

“We were very positive, and alongside trusting the team at Oxford Fertility, we did everything we could to support the treatment. We ate super healthy food, kept a good balance on our exercise and cut back on alcohol.

“I continued to attend reflexology sessions and also started fertility massage and acupuncture. These alternative therapies really helped me to feel calm and relaxed and got my body in the best condition for my treatment. I received them throughout my IVF treatment and even had acupuncture just before and just after embryo transfer, which especially helped, as it was a time when I was feeling the most nervous.

The team made such a big difference to my journey, I can now help other people through theirs.

“I responded well to IVF and we produced eight embryos. One was transferred and seven were of good enough quality to be frozen. The one embryo transferred embedded and nine months later to the day Samuel arrived. My husband felt so comfortable that everything was going to plan that he even booked the due-day off work. I couldn’t believe it when he was right.

“After seeing how reflexology, massage and acupuncture helped me through my IVF journey, I decided that this was something I wanted to pursue as a career. I already had qualifications in massage and so studied reflexology. After qualifying, I joined the team at the Natural Fertility Clinic and am so proud. The team made such a big difference to my journey, I can now help other people through theirs.”

Oxford Fertility have partnered with The Natural Fertility Clinic to offer complementary therapy for patients trying to conceive either naturally, or via IVF, ICSI and IUI.